As mobile devices are surpassing desktop computers in shipment growth and tablet features are becoming part of mainstream mobile computing, pen-based input is established as a core user experience. Parsing technologies analyze the structures within digital ink to enable advanced editing, searching and conversion features. These features are compelling reasons for pen-based mobile note-taking and tablet adoption.
Another popular feature of pen-based input systems is creating diagrams with pen and ink. Some conventional systems typically recognize ink entries automatically after each stroke by checking if the stroke is a shape, and if yes, converting to a corresponding shape object. The disadvantage of these systems is that many users prefer multi-strokes. Other systems perform recognition automatically on multi-strokes with timeout. The conversion to shape object happens after a timeout, at which point all previous strokes are considered as a single attempt of a shape. This approach presents another user related problem: time-outs are typically disliked because they reduce productivity, tend to be error prone and are not very reliable in detecting shape completion. Further systems employ a manual recognition method, where the conversion happens as initiated by the user, at which point all previous unconverted strokes are used. However, manual approaches are time consuming and user feedback is slower.